In the Making
by JessenoSabaku
Summary: They look at our world and say, "Where's this dream-land you talk about?" I pity the poor soul that cannot witness the beauty of a world in the making. Umineko no Naku Koro Ni. AU. Pass this story on since it's in Misc. Anime and hard to find. HIATUS.


**Disclaimer: Alright, you know the drill. None of this is mine. This is just a fan project done because I got some crazy ideas, so needless to say no profit is being made off of this. Please go out and buy all the Umineko visual novels and watch the anime. The English translation patch can be found on the Witch Hunt site.**

**NOTE: You do not need to read the introduction below to understand the first chapter, but it would be helpful for you to read it before advancing into the further chapters. I will probably repeat the information in the chapters where it is necessary to the story, but I wouldn't count on it if I were you. In short, if there is something you don't understand with how the truths in the "game" are identified, chances are you'll find it here.**

Alright, until I've read the eighth Umineko no Naku Koro Ni visual novel, I don't know how far I'll get with this … but basically this is my "game," made up with the same characters but with slightly different personalities and a different plotline. You will find that the red truth does not often come into play here, but instead there are multiple other truths that are used as weapons. Since does not allow colors, please allow me to list all the current truths and how they are identified:

Natsuhi's truth – So you can get a feel for the color you should imagine, Natsuhi's truth is **purple**.

**Eva's truth** – Eva's truth is **orange**.

KANON'S TRUTH – Kanon's truth is **black**.

**Shannon's truth** – Shannon's truth is **dark blue**.

Maria's truth – Maria's truth is **pink**.

_**Kyrie's truth**_ – the equivalent of the blue truth. Therefore, it is **light blue**.

I know it's complicated and I apologize, but please try to bear with it. Something that will make it all a little more easy to remember is the list of truths and the people who use them. So here I will also list those who use each truth:

Jessica, Virgilia, Krauss, Natsuhi, and Kanon use Natsuhi's truth.

George, Shannon, Eva, Hideyoshi, Eva-Beatrice, Gaap, Beelzebub, Leviathan, Lucifer, and Gohda use **Eva's truth**.

Shannon, Belphegor, Eva-Beatrice, Gaap, Ronove, and Lucifer use KANNON'S TRUTH.

Jessica, Kanon, Eva-Beatrice, Asmodeus, Satan, and George use **Shannon's truth**.

Sakutarou, Maria, Rosa, Asmodeus, Ronove, Virgilia, Bernkastel, and Lambdadelta use Maria's truth.

Kyrie, Battler, Ange, Rudolf, Mammon, Leviathan, Amakusa, and Bernkastel use _**Kyrie's truth**_.

For now, that's all the people who will use those truths. I hope you will get the hang of it and try not to kill me for setting up something so troublesome. I will continue to search for better ways to express the truths, and will notify you of changes as I make them. With that out of the way, please enjoy the rest of the first chapter.

**(XXX)**

This world is not my own. These whispers that float through the corridors do not belong to friends of mine, the dirty floors I am forced to clean are not mine, and this hell I live in is not mine in which to burn.

No, I don't like this world one bit.

"Bern, we've been at this for hours. When is Kinzo-sama going to be satisfied?"

She looks at me with vacant eyes, like always—eyes with emotions that have been broken down by hard physical labor. Even though we are only kids, they still push us until we drop, and I doubt there is any real purpose for doing so. "He won't be. You know that very well."

"But we have to try, right? If we don't, then we certainly won't get anywhere!"

"Face it, Lambda, we won't get any favor no matter what we do. It's like he has some grudge against us."

"What about a miracle?"

"I can guarantee with certainty that there will never be one."

Together in this private hell of ours, Bernkastel and I, Lambdadelta, became friends and rivals. "Bernkastel" and "Lambdadelta" are pretty odd names, don't you think? You're probably thinking, "Their real names can't possibly be that!" Well, for one, if you think that, you obviously haven't been to Rokkenjima. There are all kinds of weird names here on this secluded, hell-hole of an island. And second … well, maybe they aren't our real names? I'll leave it to your imagination. *giggle**giggle*. In any case, Bernkastel and Lambdadelta are our titles. You see, since our stay here as servants on Rokkenjima, we've gained a sense of knowledge, self-awareness and power far beyond that of a human. We've become witches—Bernkastel, the Witch of Miracles, and I, Lambdadelta, the Witch of Certainty. If it's possible, even if only by a miracle, Bernkastel can find that possibility; if you work hard enough to complete your goal, I just might acknowledge your efforts and guarantee with my power that you get the prize at the end of the road.

… Or at least, we'd like to think we're witches.

After all, who can be a true witch locked inside this stuffy mansion with an old nut-job whose only concern is satisfying the stupid, ever-changing whims of that blonde, ditsy wife of his? I'd like to see magic that can exist in such a suffocating atmosphere. Magic is _way _too much fun to ever take the trouble to appear here. So until we escape from Rokkenjima, we will hold onto our titles, and then acquire our power in more lively places where it will be easier. Then we can invite the Ushiromiyas to dinner and make them serve the food, act as our foot-stools, then throw them into the hearth when we're done with them. Doesn't that sound fun~? *giggle**giggle**giggle*!

"But soon, we will escape from this place, and become true witches, and be free."

"…"

She sweeps alongside me in silence, not responding. I try to expand on the topic I was talking about before, hoping to elicit a reply.

"We'll eat sweets all day long, play pranks on people at the park, and whisper to the criminals just where to shoot a man to kill him. We'll do whatever we want, and no one will be able to tell us what to do or say that we can't do it. Then you and I will have a really fun competition of our own. It'll be just like that, won't it, Bern?" I look over to see if she's paying attention.

"…"

She still pays me no mind. I pout and with a huff I turn back to my work, trying to pretend like I don't care.

Bernkastel looks over and sees my pathetic attempt at masking my irritation, smiling at me just slightly with a rare hint of affection buried deep within it. Then her face goes stone-cold again, this time with a bitter edge to her voice.

"… Damn that Genji." She hisses.

"Huh? What about Genji? What, what?" I hate how she just suddenly starts off a conversation on her own. She keeps the real subject hidden from me until the last minute, toying with me by trying to make me figure it out. I want to be included, damn it!

"I think he overheard us talking about magic earlier. A couple of nights ago after we finished discussing some of the properties of magic, I came out of our room and saw him sneaking around the halls. Since then Kinzo-sama has been working us to the bone."

"Huh? Hey, no fair, that's playing dirty!"

I stamp my feet in frustration.

"And just when we were so close to our goal. It would have only been a couple more years before we could get out."

"What do you mean 'would have?' It's still like that, right? Bern, stop beating around the bush! You're annoying me!"

"If you keep quiet I'll tell you."

I pout, but because I _really_ want to know what she's getting at, I keep my mouth closed and pull an imaginary zipper across it. Although, you should keep it a secret between the two of us that I already know what she's trying to say.

Her voice drops to a whisper and she leans in close. "They don't want us breaking free and learning magic. If we do that and come back to attack them, the old man will be in quite a disadvantageous position. So …"

"… They want to keep us enslaved here as long as they can."

Bern nods minutely at me. "… They might even kill us if they can't keep us."

"Hey, you know, maybe we're being too paranoid! They wouldn't really do something so crazy, would they?"

"…"

… Yeah, even I can't believe what I'm saying either. That Kinzo is a fickle bastard that acts on the heat of the moment and never thinks things through. He's gone completely insane. Every day there's only a hair's breadth between us getting punishment or us getting killed. This could be extremely bad …

"What're we gonna do? We can't just sit here waiting to see what will happen!"

"… We've got to figure out something, fast. It seems the time for us to ascend to witch-hood has already come …"

"Can we really do that here, with so much of the anti-magic toxin floating around?"

"… We might not be able to make full use of our power … but we can challenge everyone in this fragment to a game."

"A game?" I look at her with newfound curiosity. A game? What game? Games are fun, right? I want to know, I want to knoooow!

Bern must see the twinkle in my eyes because hers begin to glow in turn.

"Yes. A challenge that will give the winner lordship of this territory, the Ushiromiya name, and all that the family owns. Kinzo-sama loves those kinds of things, so if we send him a direct challenge, he won't be able to refuse."

"But we won't be able to defeat him with how weak our magic is right now!"

"That's why games have rules."

"… *giggle**giggle* I like the way you think, Bern. What kind of rules did you have in mind …?"

"Every world has a truth, but that truth can be erased and reconstructed by a simple theory that is proven to work in the same world. So let's don a philosophy fitting of witches such as ourselves and beat down the poor, tragic truth of this world then create a grand new world to play in forever, where we'll never be bored like this again. And then, we can create thousands of game boards and stick Kinzo-sama and his little wife in our shoes. *giggle* I'm sure you'll have some wonderful ideas, right, Lambda…?"

Bern's face curves into a twisted grin. It's contagious and soon I am also smiling at the thousands of ideas forming in my mind of just how we could convey to that old piece of crap just how miserable our time here has been.

"Ha-ha-ha! I love you, Bern, I absolutely love you! How do we challenge him? Let's start right away! Victory is just over the horizon!"

"Yes, it's very close … and I think you'll like the way that this game starts out."

She leans in even closer and whispers sweet, terrible things into my ear that makes my face jump with excitement. Oh, Bern, how I love you. You're just too much fun, you know? If you weren't here to clear away the boredom with me, its poison surely would have killed me already. Someday, we'll win this game and create a world all our own where we'll have good times for centuries to come …

And then when we tire of that, I will lock you in that cat box, chain you up, and play with your life to my heart's content. Won't that be fun, Bern …?

*giggle**giggle**cackle**cackle* Hya-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-hi-hi-hi-ha-ha! Come, Bern! Let's show them the world that is to come …!

**(XXX)**

"Who did this?"

An angry voice roars out through the hallways of the mansion. All the servants become panicked and in a clamor try to dive out of the way. Many of them are stepped on, thrown aside, or picked up by their collars. Servants of all ages hide from this old, gritty voice and the old, crazy man that it belongs to, as he comes barreling through the halls.

In his hands he holds a letter with gold leaf on it in the shape of his family's one-winged crest, the wax seal on it broken in two. But even though he is the head of the family, this letter was not written by him, and the wax seal that could only be made by the head's ring was not a seal that he made. Inside that letter were rules of a game addressed by two witches by the names of Bernkastel and Lambdadelta, challenging him for everything he had. At the end of the letter, they told him of a certain kick-off point that would start the game, but they wouldn't tell him what they planned to do. So he runs through the halls furiously, interrogating everyone he came upon.

It isn't long before he's gone over everyone he's questioned twice, and he hasn't gained anything from any of it. There is only one person whom he has not questioned yet, and the only other person who could possess his ring. Kinzo had left her to take care of some paperwork in his study, so he'd lent her the ring in case she needed to provide a seal. He refuses to believe that she would have anything to do with this new conspiracy against him, but …

His face pales and his anger turns to fear. He spins around on his heels and dashes towards his study, terror and despair already having gripped his heart. There exists a slight hope within him that drives his feet to move faster with every step, blind in his desperation to get back to his study.

He needs to get back to his wife.

He soon reaches the study door and bangs on it, calling out to her. But as one might expect … there is no answer. He yells and screams and bangs on the door louder, crying hysterically until Genji hears him and runs up to him, hoping to help.

"Open the door!" Kinzo cries. "Do it now!"

Genji bows and wordlessly pulls the study key from his pocket and roughly shoves the key in the hole, turns it to the right, then flings open the door to the study. Kinzo jumps into the room, pushing Genji aside, but it would have been better if he had just waited outside and asked Genji what had happened. Genji saw immediately what was in the room and therefore remains in the doorway, his head hung and eyes closed as he listens to the tone of the words of his master crescendo before suddenly breaking into sobs.

He holds his beloved wife in his arms, the way he'd held her many a time in the past, her head on his chest with her eyes closed. But this time, her slight napping on his chest would not be interrupted for all eternity. Why, you ask? The half of her face pressed to his chest …

… is gone.

"Who? Who did this? Who killed her? Oooh, Beatriiiiice!"

Genji stands by and calmly assesses the situation, as a man in his position should do. He stares at the woman in Kinzo's arms and keeps an indifferent expression as her husband rocks her back and forth, face overcome with tears. He lets his master mourn for a few moments in peace before he decides that it is unnecessary to deviate any longer from the real problem at hand.

"Master …"

"What? What is it? Can't you see my pain? Can't you leave me to mourn my love? Oh, Beatrice …! Beatriiiice …!"

"… I am also in mourning, Master. But there is something that you should know."

"And what could that be?"

"The head's ring … is gone."

The sound of thunder crashes in the distance. A lightning bolt dances across the clouds, illuminating the whole room in white, violent light. Kinzo is no longer crying. His face is still stained with tears, but his face has twisted once more in rage.

The head's ring is gone. The challenge has begun. This … was the kick-off point.

Kinzo begins to laugh out of the blue, his expression deranged and pain-stricken, like it hurts so much that it feels good.

"Alright then, Bernkastel, Lambdadelta! I accept your challenge! But I have a few rules of my own, alright? And how about we make this a battle royal? Certainly it's no fun with just the three of us! Everyone can join in! Everyone can have a shot at my glory and fortune! That way I can strike them all down for this horrible injustice they've done to me! All of you will pay! All of you will pay! Ooooh, Beatriiiiiiiice…!"

He breaks out into tears once more, but this time he is approachable. Genji makes sure to seize the opportunity.

"Master … how shall we respond?"

"By making the first move …! Genji, retrieve Shannon! Tell her that it is time to write my will! You witches watch my glorious move and absorb the rules! Never forget them throughout our battle, or you will be crushed instantly! Are you ready for this, witches? Get ready to view our spectacular game! Be prepared for your ultimate inevitable defeat!"

Another crazed laugh fills the room and it is greeted by yet another indifferent silence from his faithful servant. He bows and turns to do as he told, knowing there's nothing more he can say now. He closes the door behind him, leaving the man alone with the woman he loves.

Kinzo rocks her back and forth in his arms, treating her like the whole wife she once was even though part of her body is now missing. For a long time, he is silent, thinking quietly to himself of old days, thinking ahead of what is to come. Many different emotions cross his face as he thinks these simple thoughts:

With this, the curtain rises on the first game. I wonder what it will be like? Come now, all of you can join in too. You will, won't you? I'd love to hear what your ideal world is like. Why don't we talk it over? Yes, we'll enjoy this wonderful game together …

*cackle**cackle* HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!

**(XXX)**

Note: TA-DA! Finally doing an Umineko story. By the way, that last little bit that was all in caps, I'm sure you don't need to be told that it was not KANON'S TRUTH. And, as Kinzo has stated, as you read, please tell me what kind of world and philosophies you've all created. Feel free to take the idea of everyone fighting over their future and their world and run with it and let me see! Hopefully you'll enjoy my pitiful execution of that idea and share with me the wonders you've worked with it. Please rate, review, request, and so and so. Thanks for reading.


End file.
